Can you hear me now?

[John Whaley]

An adult male Osprey preening after bringing a fish back to the nest. He is spending a lot of time fishing these days with 3 hungry chicks and "devotes much time to keeping his plumage in good condition, removing fish scales and reapplying oil from the preen gland above the tail to keep his feathers waterproofed." They are fun birds to watch.

1/3200, f6.3, auto ISO 720, 500 f4 E + 1.4III, D850.

Attachment 176372

[annmpacheco]

Hi John, made me smile! Wow those talons mean business. Seems like some of the whites have lost detail around the neck and lower abdomen. I like the pose you caught and the clean BG.

[Noel Heustis]

John - Yeah those talons aren't playing around. I like the pose, the perch, and the nice uniform clean background.

[Isaac Grant]

Fun pose and beautiful image quality John. Good perch as well. I would revisit the highlights around the legs and thighs and make some minor adjustments to finish this one off. A good tip is to put the bird on its on layer, reduce the opacity of the layer to maybe 8-10%. Then burn the bright spots a few times to try and bring them back down. Being careful that they don't turn too yellow or gray. If that happens you can sometimes reduce the yellow channel or go into selective color and reduce the blacks in the whites to brighten those whites up a bit again if they have been grayed over.

[John Whaley]

Fun pose and beautiful image quality John. Good perch as well. I would revisit the highlights around the legs and thighs and make some minor adjustments to finish this one off. A good tip is to put the bird on its on layer, reduce the opacity of the layer to maybe 8-10%. Then burn the bright spots a few times to try and bring them back down. Being careful that they don't turn too yellow or gray. If that happens you can sometimes reduce the yellow channel or go into selective color and reduce the blacks in the whites to brighten those whites up a bit again if they have been grayed over.

Thanks for the feedback Issac. I have the bird on its own layer but I am unsure what you mean specifically by "burn the bright spots". How does one burn the bright spots?
Thanks

[John Mack]

Great pose on the bird. Excellent background. Nice light as well. Love those talons.

[Isaac Grant]

You are using PS right? If so then go to the tool bar and select burn. It is about mid way in the tool bar. Click on the magnifying glass (which is the dodge tool) and then select the sideways hand which is the burn tool. Adjust the size of the brush and leave it a the softest hardness. I leave mine at zero. Then run it over the "hot areas" a few times until you have the desired results. Let me know if you need any more help.

[Bill Dix]

Great pose captured, John, like a circus pose, standing out nicely against that blue BG. Good detail.

[John Whaley]

You are using PS right? If so then go to the tool bar and select burn. It is about mid way in the tool bar. Click on the magnifying glass (which is the dodge tool) and then select the sideways hand which is the burn tool. Adjust the size of the brush and leave it a the softest hardness. I leave mine at zero. Then run it over the "hot areas" a few times until you have the desired results. Let me know if you need any more help.

Got it. I thought that is what you meant but was not sure if there was something else I should know. I have done similar in LR with a brush and reduced exposure / highlights.

[Glenn Pure]

Humourous pose and caption, John. But I think he's dropped his phone - maybe the kids are playing with it? Back to the image, I agree on taming the brightest highlights a little but you might have to go back to the raw for that. I did wonder though if the contrast was backed off, whether this would help as the blacks and shadows are fairly intense. I think this might be one where more midtone contrast would help versus across the board contrast. Everything else looks great.

[William Dickson]

Fabulous IQ here John. I love how the bird is balanced on the perch and what a pose. Very well done.

Will